Pio Pullini e Roma. Venticinque anni di storia illustrata (1920 - 1945)

Formality and wit. These are two sides of the Pullini’s oeuvre, which moves deftly between official portraits and paintings on one side and humorous illustrations and watercolours on the other. All aspects of his work – with a particular attention to his relationship with the city of Rome – will be highlighted in the exhibition “ Pio Pullini e Roma. Venticinque anni di storia illustrata (1920-1945)” (Rome and Pio Pullini. Twenty-five years of illustrated history) at the Museo di Roma - Palazzo Braschi from April 22 to September 5, 2010.
On display are about 90 works from the collections of the Museo di Roma, the Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna, the Collezione Pia Petrucci and the Collezione Pietro Pullini: drawings, watercolours and paintings divided into three sections which cover the periods Pullini lived in Rome: from 1906 to the outbreak of the First World War, from 1920 to 1922 and finally from 1934 to his death.
The first section displays some illustrations drawn by the artist for popular magazines and newspapers such as “La Tribuna illustrata” and “L’Urbe”. Together with other painters, Pullini painted the frescoes of Palazzo del Viminale (1920), made an unusual and intimate portrait of Gabriele D'Annunzio, painted the official portrait of Pope Pius XI and a peculiar caricature of the poet Trilussa, a long-time friend. In 1922 he left Rome to teach drawing in Cagliari, Rovigo and Faenza, but he remained in contact with the city through participation in exhibitions (in 1921 he exhibited at the first Biennale Romana, in 1926 at a caricatures exhibition in the former restaurant Biffi, and from 1927 to 1930 at the annual exhibitions of Amatori e Cultori d’arte at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni). Moreover, his reputation grew as he drew the illustrations of the Primer.
The second section illustrates the years of World War II and Post-war period with watercolours characterized by a mixture of a dry and raw realism. The watchful and sympathetic eye of Pullini focuses on priests and kings, nobles and middle-class people, politicians and common people, veterans and heroes, Fascist party officials and Americans entering in the city. All these full-length portraits on a blurred background minimize caricatural traits, which can be considered as a faithful representation of those years.
The third and final section presents a series of paintings that, starting from 1912, document Pullini’s work as a portraitist. From female nudes, evidence of his training at the Istituto di Belle Arti in Rome and at Giulio Aristide Sartorio’s studio, to later works which evoke a more familiar and intimate mood.